Agenda released for the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia
The Council agenda, which has emerged from three years and several layers of prayer, listening, dialogue and discernment, will shape the program of the Council’s assembly commencing on 3 October.
The agenda’s preamble draws from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium which explores the Pope’s “dream of a ‘missionary option’”.
Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB said that invitation and exhortation to be a missionary people runs through the agenda.
“Through the Plenary Council, we are being called to consider how we can be a Church that goes out to the peripheries, that welcomes all into our communities and shows the face of Christ to the world,” Archbishop Timothy said in a statement.
The agenda has been developed in the form of posing questions, with 16 questions falling under six themes - conversion, prayer, formation, structures, governance and institutions.
Plenary Council facilitator Lana Turvey-Collins said the agenda asks questions with widespread relevance.
“These questions have been developed for a specific purpose – for prayer, conversation, discernment and decision-making during the Plenary Council – but they are questions that can challenge each of us, each parish, each Church community,” she said.
“In preparing for the Council and beyond, the agenda can be a rich source of reflection and contemplation in our own settings.”
Archbishop Costelloe asked people to continue to pray for the Council and for the members who will attend the assemblies.